MobileCrunch 29May09

MobileCrunch

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• Review: Samsung Alias2 for Verizon Wireless
• New HTC Hero Android Build Leaks, We go hands on
• iPhone app lets you shoot remotely with your Canon DSLR - Nikon support coming
• Verizon starts off the summer with 3 new LGs
• Android Review: Handmark’s Express News. Verdict: Doesn’t suck.
• Verizon to sell Palm Pre, Storm 2 within six months
• Google expects 18-20 Android handsets this year
• One more thing: The Palm Pre syncs with iTunes
• Palm Pre: An also-ran
• Space Ace for iPhone!

Review: Samsung Alias2 for Verizon Wireless Posted: 28 May 2009 11:47 PM PDT It seems like all the attention these days is focused on smartphones. The reality is, not everyone who needs and uses a cellphone wants a pocket-computer and/or to pay for the hefty data services required to take advantage of said smarties. With that in mind, it’s nice to see that Samsung is still working on improving its more standard fair / “dumb” phones, if you will. The recently released Alias2 is a primary example of Big Sam’s innovation-meets-pedestrian-handset tactics. Like its older sibling, the Alias2 sports a dual-hinge allowing the phone to flip open like a traditional clam-shell, as well as in landscape orientation. But unlike like its blood-brother, the most intriguing (not to mention, innovative) feature of this second-gen, messaging-centric flip phone is the inclusion of Samsung’s “Magic Key” e-ink (think Kindle-tech) back-lit keypad. As Verizon puts it: Alias 2 adds a touch of magic – a Magic Key keypad using e–ink technology. In phone mode, you see a standard phone keypad. In texting mode, however, the keys magically change into a full, four–row QWERTY keypad. I’ve gotta say, I really like the e-ink keypad. Not because this particular model is so incredible (nor is it bad for what it is), but more due to the incredible potential this technology has for all “regular” handsets. Being able to punch out a quick text message, twitter update, or even a brief email is considerably easier with a QWERTY keypad, but then again you already knew that. The Alias2 feels a bit hefty in your hand and/or pocket @ 4.34 ounces and seems especially top-heavy when holding the phone up to your ear on a phone call. The handset is also pretty large (4.01″ x 2.04″ x 0.67″) for a flip phone - but that tends to be the case with any dual-mode phone. The specs aren’t going to blow your pants off, but they’re more than adequate for the “Not looking for a smartphone, but still want a nice phone” audience that makes up just about all of the non-tech obsessed world. All in all, it’s sportin’ a 2.6″ QVGA screen, a 2.0 megapixel camera, and dedicated hot keys for one–touch access to Bluetooth, text messaging, voicemail, camera, voice commands, games and alarms. A bit of an (unexpected) surprise is the inclusion of visual voice mail. For $2.99/month, users can see a list of callers, including the phone number called from, date, and duration of the message. Here is what VZW has to say: Now you can manage and check your Voice Mail messages on screen with Visual Voice Mail. Scroll through your messages, pick the ones you want to listen to, erase or archive. You can call back, text and add to contacts directly from the Visual Voice Mail screen. Access Voice Mail with one button and get instant playback. Did you get that “mailbox is full” message again? Now you can easily archive your messages in multiple places. Keep a copy on your device’s internal memory or on a removable memory card. Or you can send the audio to an email address via the Picture and Video option. Visual Voice Mail is only available in the National Enhanced Services Coverage Area and only on select devices. Being able to see this info and selectively listen to messages is a pleasant feature, and hopefully one that will be widely available across all mobile carriers and future mobile devices in the very near future. In terms of the other good / decent stuff, battery life has been respectable (sorry, no hard data collected), the speakerphone is relatively clear (but not so great for listening to music, although “passable;” the standard close-ear speaker is so-so), web browsing is relatively quick over Verizon’s touted 3G network (but limited as its got a standard WAP browser), and text messaging is a snap thanks to the “magic” keyboard. As for the less than stellar features, the inclusion of a 2.5mm headphone jack is just plain inexcusable, especially since the phone is marketed as a “V Cast Music Phone with Rhapsody,” all but limiting its musical enjoyment to crappy borderline quality stereo Bluetooth headphones or wonky 2.5mm cellphone headsets. The screen, while a decent size, is not the sharpest thing I’ve ever seen, but hey, you get what you pay for. Speaking of which, the Samsung Alias2 is currently running $79.99 (w/ 2yr agreement). The magical QWERTY elevates this handset to “solid choice” status for anyone looking for a text-centric flip-phone on Verizon Wireless. What we like: The Alias series’ signature dual flip design The e-ink keyboard rocks If you’re down with a 2 year contract, it’s one of the more feature-packed feature phones you can get for under a hundred bucks What we don’t: 2.5mm headset jack Kind of bulky

New HTC Hero Android Build Leaks, We go hands on Posted: 28 May 2009 11:10 PM PDT As anyone who has spent some time with any recent HTC-made Windows Mobile phone ought to know, HTC has a serious knack for taking mobile OSes and customizing them - and there’s no better OS for that than Android. After cranking out the Dream and the Magic with only limited modifications, all signs indicate that HTC is going all out with the tweaks on the upcoming HTC Hero. Over the past few weeks, a build of the HTC Hero ROM has been floating around, albeit closely guarded, amongst the developer community. A hacker going by the name of Haykuro would port it to the G1, then demonstrate the new features on video. Eventually the build leaked without without Haykuro’s permission, and it spread like wildfire. It’s a buggy beta build and lacks some of the features we’ve already seen (like the Rosie UI home screen), but it’s relatively functional and gives us a sneak peek at some of the cool things to come from the future HTC Android devices. One of the most striking changes is the general interface. If you thought the default interface on Android was a little bland, you’ll be happy to know HTC has spiced things up a little bit with some splashes of toxic green, grays and blacks. Not enough to rattle your snake? How about integrated Facebook, Flickr and Twitter clients? Even better, when you log in to your Facebook account from the application, you can then link your contacts to their respective profiles. That makes it even easier to add that embarrassing picture they uploaded of themselves after they’ve had one too many drinks. Status updates can also be sent directly from the application. Each contact entry pulls information from the accounts you have linked. So say you link up the Facebook profile of your best-best-best-friend-twice-removed forever; their birthday, e-mails, status updates will all readily be available. Also accessible directly from each contacts screen is a little icon bar that lets you switch over to view any text messages, e-mails, photo albums (from Facebook or Flickr) and recent calls. Anybody remember Footprints, that crazy geo-tagging application HTC debuted on the revised HTC Touch Cruise? It’s been ported to Android, and appears in this build. Footprints essentially allows you geo-tag photos, categorize them by places you have been, and rate them. Other Changes: Huge calendar revamp - the calendar app is gorgeous now. Much improved dialer As we’ve been seeing in any non-”With Google” HTC phone to hit the shelves, it has Exchange support If you have a rooted G1 and one hell of an itch to dabble, you can find the ROM here. If you can’t read Chinese, you can just download it directly here. Beyond just being rooted, you need to have Haykuro’s new SPL installed that increases your system partition, the newest radio, a recovery image.. in other words, this isn’t for the faint of heart, nor do we recommend it. Props to Haykuro for making this possible. While we can’t officially give props to xdan for leaking this prematurely, we’d probably give him a high five when no one was looking. via xda-devs Crunch Network: TechCrunch obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies

iPhone app lets you shoot remotely with your Canon DSLR - Nikon support coming Posted: 28 May 2009 07:44 PM PDT Now here's an app many creative professionals might find useful. The DSLR Remote iPhone app lets you trigger your camera's shutter, adjust almost any of its settings, and view photos it's taken. The catch, unfortunately, is that the camera needs to be wired to a computer for this to work. Even so, I can think of plenty of situations where this could come in handy, though admittedly there are few where a professional would absolutely need it. Still, the more tools you have, the more versatile your whole setup is, and who wouldn't want to snap pics via their iPhone anyway?

Verizon starts off the summer with 3 new LGs Posted: 28 May 2009 03:49 PM PDT With handsets like the Storm 2 and the Blackberry Tour coming down Verizon’s pipeline, it’s sort of hard to get excited about anything else they’ve got. That’s not about to stop LG though – they’re poised to launch three new handsets on Big Red within the next few days. Let’s take a look: At first glance, the enV3 doesn’t look much different from the phone it was intended to replace. That’s actually because… it really isn’t. Sure, the enV3’s front face has been tweaked a little bit to allow for easier navigation, and both the screen size and camera resolution have received modest bumps (2.6 inches and 3 megapixels, respectively), but everything else seems to be strictly old hat. Those looking to stick to the basics with LG’s iconic flip-QWERTY style shouldn’t be disappointed though, and for $129 after a mail-in rebate, it’s a solid choice for texting addicts who don’t mind the merely modest update. Interested? If so, you can hit up your local Verizon store tomorrow. The enV Touch (a.k.a. the Voyager 2, before Plantronics had something to say about it) actually made out a little better than its little brother. The size of both screens has hit 3 inches diagonal, and they both sport a resolution of 800 x 480, giving even the Sidekick LX 2009’s legendary display a run for its money.  In a surprising gesture of goodwill toward more business-oriented users, the enV Touch also supports viewing Office documents (.doc, .xls, and .ppt) in addition to PDF support. Toss in support for up to 16 GB of expandable memory and a $179 price tag, and we may have a solid contender for the summer’s hottest seller. The Glance is LG’s only truly original offering this time around, and it’s peculiar in that it’s one of their only non-touchscreen candy bar phones in recent memory. Slim and sleek, the Glance sports a unique woven metal mesh on its back plate, but that so far seems to be the only standout feature. With its 1.3 megapixel shooter and it’s slim stature, the Glance seems destined for a spot on the freebies list, but right now it’ll run all you LG devotees (seriously, who else would buy this thing?) $49. Don’t worry if you’re a little strapped for cash though - both the enV Touch and the Glance aren’t due out until June 5, so you’ve all got plenty of time to dig through your couch cushions.

Android Review: Handmark’s Express News. Verdict: Doesn’t suck. Posted: 28 May 2009 12:47 PM PDT Bombarded with dozens of news sources and code-heavy web sites, mobile news browsing seems to be a daunting task at best. Even on Wi-Fi, some of the most powerful mobile phones take their sweet time rendering. Searching for a solid application that can handle aggregation of popular and trusted news sources can be just as tedious as actually reading news on a mobile phone. Tedium, however, may have come to an end for us Android users with the release of Handmark’s Express News. With 10,000-50,000 downloads, Express News has maintained a 4.5/5 score to an often-critical crowd. With all the buzz on this product, we figured it was time to give it a run. Upon launching the application, Express News brought me to the general headlines display, listing 10 major stories that I would find atop any popular news portal on the web. A ‘get more stories’ button at the bottom grabs 10 more stories, listing them in ascending order from time published. From here, I checked out the article on Toys R Us’s acquisition of FAO Shwartz. It brought the article page at lightening speed (granted, I was connected over Wi-Fi), the story’s imagery intact. Each story also has a “Share this” button, allowing you to send the link to your compadres via SMS or E-mail. It lacks a “Tweet this” button, which seems quite odd in the midst of the current Twitter-frenzy. If nothing else, it’d be nice if it tied into any of the Android Twitter apps already available. And, for the sake of folks like me who can’t see 10 feet in front of them: You can change the text size quite easily. Not only is the readability great, but the navigation setup is brilliant - but it needs a tutorial for first time users. Instead of going back to the main page or any category choice, users can ‘flip’ through articles and topics with a swipe of the finger. It’s a great feature for those who enjoy skim-reading; stories load fast enough that if the headline doesn’t grab you, the picture might. When, however, you do want to change the category of articles, just dropping ‘Express news’ bar at the top will display available categories including politics, general, and U.S. headlines to name a few. Alas, it’s not all perfect. Our biggest qualm is with the lack of content customization. Though they claim to source from 300 sources, we’d like to be able to use this client for our sources - that is, RSS feeds. As far as we can tell, you’re stuck with what they give you. The popularity and positive feedback of this quality application is most likely caused by its business model: instead of charging users, Express news is ad-supported. The advertisement is pretty non-intrusive, only seen at the top of the article selection pages. Free is great, but they really ought to figure out how much the average use brings in from ad-clicks in a few months or a year, and offer an ad-less version. Finally, if we can’t have RSS, at least give us localization. It’s a good news application; add local, nation and international news, and it’d be nearly perfect. For the final price of free, this application is great; If you’re interested in the world around you and aren’t too interested in bringing in your favorite sites, it’s worth checking out. Everyone likes news, everyone likes free things; this app offers quality and no cost to the users. What we liked: Great functionality, with a design fit specifically for the Android platform Incredibly performance - As I was playing with this app for an hour or so, I didn’t encounter one performance related issue News-paper feel, with flipping of the pages Ability to share articles of SMS and E-mail We like free things, everyone does What we didn’t like No premium application, you’re forced to look at ads Lack of RSS feeds, or at least localization - This is a big minus

Verizon to sell Palm Pre, Storm 2 within six months Posted: 28 May 2009 09:48 AM PDT First it was AT&T mouthing off about carrying the Palm Pre and now Verizon’s CEO Lowell McAdam is stating that VZW will begin selling the Palm Pre “over the next six months or so…” Also mentioned was the Storm 2 by McAdam, which will also go on sale in the same time frame. Side note: Palm shares went up 11 points while Sprint’s went down 3 points after this announcement. via Reuters Crunch Network: TechCrunch obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies

Google expects 18-20 Android handsets this year Posted: 28 May 2009 09:16 AM PDT Google's Andy Rubin, Mr. Android himself, remarked yesterday that we can expect to see 18 Android phones in the US by the end of the year. That's way, way, way up from "one" last year. We may even see 20 Android phones this year, all coming from eight or nine different companies.

One more thing: The Palm Pre syncs with iTunes Posted: 28 May 2009 07:50 AM PDT Per a Fortune blog, the Palm Pre syncs “seamlessly” with iTunes. It’s not that shocking considering there are apps that add this functionality to many MP3 players and smartphones. However, this is the first phone besides the iPhone of course that has this ability out of the box. Don’t expect to load your iTunes Music Store purchases on the phone as it can’t handle the DRM. Your what.cd downloads will work fine though. We kind of expect Apple’s legal and development departments to tag team Palm eventually. The lawyers will go after Palm for infringing on Apple’s intellectual property while the devs quickly work out an iTunes update to lock the Pre out. That is, of course, if the Palm Pre is as big of a hit as we’ve made it out to be. Apple might leave it alone if it turns out to be an also-ran.

Palm Pre: An also-ran Posted: 28 May 2009 07:04 AM PDT An "also-ran" is, literally, "a horse that does not win, place, or show in a race." The world loves an underdog but it never loves an also-ran. It forgets about an also-ran. And so we reach nearly the end of Palm Pre madness and I'm afraid to report that after all the magic, all the tears, all the joy the Palm Pre will be just another phone. It won't save Palm, it won't change paradigms, and it won't send the iPhone hegemony crashing to its knees. The Palm Pre will launch with a whisper, not a bang.

Space Ace for iPhone! Posted: 28 May 2009 06:53 AM PDT Digital Leisure has just launched Space Ace for the iPhone/Touch. This game, for those of you too young to remember when games were groundbreaking and amazing and worth spending money on, used a laserdisc to display little cartoons that played when you tapped the buttons or controller correctly. Obviously this is about as intuitive as a do-it-yourself colostomy kit but dammit look at those graphics. Space Ace and Dragon’s Lair came at a weird point between consoles where “photorealistic” was becoming a distant reality but “ugly and blocky” was the status quo. Anyway, the game is $4.99 and we’ll be reviewing it post-haste. GORMLEY, Ontario, Canada – May 28, 2009 – For the first time ever, you can experience Don Bluth’s classic arcade game Space Ace, the follow up to the revolutionary Dragon’s Lair, on your iPhone or iPod Touch! This release of Don Bluth’s legendary animated arcade game features video transferred directly from the stunning high definition master, delivering the sharpest images and most vibrant colors ever – even far better than the original laserdisc release! In Space Ace you play the heroic Ace who must stop the evil Commander Borf from taking over the Earth! Borf plans to reduce all of humankind to infants and take over the planet. Only two people have the courage and strength to stop Borf and save Earth: the beautiful Kimberly and the heroic Ace. But as they approach Borf’s stronghold, Ace is hit by the Infanto Ray, changing him into a child, and Kimberly is kidnapped by the evil madman! Armed with only a laser gun, Ace must find and destroy the Infanto Ray, rescue Kimberly and save the Earth! The fate of Earth is in your hands! Simply press on the direction pad to guide Ace in the right direction or fire your laser gun and blast those aliens away! It’s that simple! Don Bluth and his production teams are the creative genius behind such beloved classics as ‘The Secret of NIMH’, ‘An American Tail’ and ‘Anastasia’ to name but a few.